Live multiparty audio-visual communication linking system and method

ABSTRACT

A system and method are presented for the creation and management of live audio-visual streams between multiple parties. An organizing computer system requests a system server to establish a stream with a limited, preset number of slots. Other computer systems request to join the stream. Once the present number of slots is filled, a queue is established for waiting computer systems. Participating computer systems can be limited in their participation to a present time period, after which they are removed from the streams. Removal of one computer system from the stream opens a slot for another, which is filed from the queue of waiting computer systems. The queue can be sorted through a variety of means, including FIFO and auction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED CASES

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/839,865, filed Apr. 29, 2019. This provisionalapplication is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention involves the field of audio-visual streamingcommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to thecreation of a live video stream with limited slots for participatingcomputer systems, and an associated participating computer system queue.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system for providing a multi-party videostream and the creation of individualized portions.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the use of the data from FIG. 1 for thegeneration and modification of portions.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a recorded communication.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a timeline, audio stream, video stream,and two portioning signals.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a first audio-visual portion.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a second audio-visual portion.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a timeline, audio stream, multiple videostreams, and overlapping portioning signals.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a third audio-visual portion.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a fourth audio-visual portion.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating the modification of the secondaudio-visual portion of FIG. 6.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a modified second audio-visual portion inthe context of the recorded communication of FIG. 3.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the modified second audio-visual portion.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a process of generating and modifyingaudio-visual portions of a multi-party video stream.

FIG. 14 is a computer interface screen for a luminary to inputpreference data include black-list topics.

FIG. 15 is a computer interface screen reminding a user of black-listtopics.

FIG. 16 is a computer interface screen allowing feedback and reportingof communication streams.

FIG. 17 is a computer interface screen allowing input of reportingdetails.

FIG. 18 is a tiled computer interface screen for an administrativecomputer.

FIG. 19 is a tiled computer interface screen showing feedback data andreported sessions.

FIG. 20 is a computer interface screen showing a list of reportedsessions.

FIG. 21 is a computer interface screen allowing one-touch review ofrecorded communications data and one-touch resolution of reports.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing a process of content monitoring,quarantine, and resolution.

FIG. 23 is a computer interface screen showing a luminary dashboardlayout and including a meet now button.

FIG. 24 is a schematic video of the application programming on theserver system.

FIG. 25 is a computer interface screen for establishing a meet nowsession.

FIG. 26 is a schematic view of a social media system.

FIG. 27 is a computer interface screen for a luminary computer systemparticipating in a meet now stream.

FIG. 28 is a computer interface screen showing a luminary provide andincluding a meet now button.

FIG. 29 is a computer interface screen showing queue information.

FIG. 30 is a computer interface screen showing meet now details.

FIG. 31 is a computer interface screen showing payment selectiondetails.

FIG. 32 is a computer interface screen for a user computer participatingin a meet now stream.

FIG. 33 is a computer interface screen for a meet now queue.

FIG. 34 is a computer interface screen for an alternative embodiment ofa meet now queue.

FIG. 35 is a computer interface screen for a queue location auction.

FIG. 36 is a flow chart showing a process of operating a meet now streamand associated queue.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

System 10

FIG. 1 shows a system 10 for the creation of a multi-party video stream20. The system 10 relies upon the presence of at least one system server100. The server 100 communicates over a computer network 101 with one ormore user computers systems 110 and a luminary computer system 120. Moreparticularly, four user computer systems 110 are shown in FIG. 1, whichare referenced using figure numbers 112, 114, 116, and 118. In an actualembodiment, many more user computer systems 110 would form part ofsystem 10. Similarly, even though only a single luminary computer system120 is shown, it is expected that an actual embodiment of system 10 willconnect with a large plurality of luminary computer systems 120.Finally, although only a single device is shown as system server 100 inFIG. 1, it is well known to establish a plurality of server computerdevices on a network 101 that operate together as a single server system100. Thus, the use of a single computing device as the system server 100is merely illustrative for describing the functionality of the presentinvention. In some embodiments, the operation of the system server 110and the overall system 10 can be controlled through an administrativecomputer system 130.

Because all of the devices 100, 110, 120, 130 are computing devices,each of these devices 100, 110, 120, 130 includes a processor 102 forprocessing computer programming instructions. This is true even thoughFIG. 1 only shows processor 102 inside the system server 100. In mostcases, the processor 102 is a CPU, such as the CPU devices created byIntel Corporation (Santa Clara, Calif.), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc(Santa Clara, Calif.), or a RISC processor produced according to thedesigns of Arm Holdings PLC (Cambridge, England). The computing devices100, 110, 120, 130 will also have a network interface 104 that allowsfor communications with each other over network 101. When the network101 is the Internet, the network interfaces 104 will be capable ofcommunicating over a TCP/IP communications protocol. Other networks 101are possible for use in the system 10.

The purpose of the system 10 is to generate a live video stream 20between the luminary computer system 120 and at least one of the usercomputer systems 110. In at least one embodiment, the live video stream20 exists between the luminary computer system 120 and multiple usercomputer systems 110, such as all four of the user computer systems 112,114, 116, 118 shown in FIG. 1. The generated video stream 20 includesboth visual and audio elements, and therefore can be considered anaudio-visual stream 20. In one embodiment, the video stream 20 takes theform of a video conference stream. In a video conference stream 20, eachof the various computer systems 110, 120 provide both audio and videodata for the video stream 20. The system server 100 receives audio andvideo data from each of the participating computer systems 110, 120 andthen generates a video stream 20 that combines the data it received in amanner that is useful and/or entertaining. The system server 100generates this video stream 20 and shares it in real time with thevarious computer systems 110, 120 that are participating in the videostream 20.

In one embodiment, computer system 120 is operated by a luminary. Aluminary is an individual of some fame or expertise such that userswould be interested in communicating with the luminary. For example, theluminary may be a sports star, a movie star, a famous musician, abusiness leader, an academician, or some other celebrity. Using theluminary computer system 120, the luminary may communicate with thesystem server 100, input background information about themselves, andexpress a willingness to engage in multi-party video streams with avariety of users in exchange for compensation. Users on the usercomputers 110 can review information concerning various luminaries thathave registered with the system server 100 and request a shared videostream 20 with a particular luminary. Users will generally payconsideration to participate in the stream 20 with the luminary.

In the description that follows, streams 20 are generally described asoccurring between a single luminary computer system 120 and one or moreuser computer systems 110. Nonetheless, it is within the scope of thepresent invention to establish streams between multiple luminarycomputer systems 120 and one or more user computer systems 110. Anyconsideration generated could be shared by the participating luminarycomputer systems 120. Furthermore, and preferences associated with theluminary computer systems 120 could be aggregated to govern thegenerated stream 20. Although such configurations of the stream 20 arecontemplated, the following discussion and examples will generally referto a stream 20 involving a single luminary computer system 120 for easein explaining and understanding the disclosed invention.

Each of the computing systems 100, 110, 120, 130 has a memory 106containing programming and data that assists in the creation of thesevideo streams. In FIG. 1, the memory 106 is shown only in the systemserver 100. The memory 106 generally takes the form of both temporary,random access memory (RAM) and more permanent storage such a magneticdisk storage, FLASH memory, or another non-transitory (also referred toas permanent) storage medium. The programming and data will be storedpermanently on non-transitory storage devices and transferred into RAMwhen needed for processing or analysis. In all computing devices 100,110, 120, 130 the memory 106 contains an operating system 108responsible for the general operation of the computing devices 100, 110,120, 130 and proper operation of the application programming 109 that isalso stored in the memory 106.

In the user computer systems 110 and the luminary computer system 120,the application programming 109 can take the form of a simple browserprogram that receives and transmits web-based data with the systemserver 100. In this embodiment, the system server 100 is completelyresponsible for creating the user interface shown by the browsers on theconnected computing systems 110, 120. In other embodiments, theconnected computing systems 110, 120 run specialty applicationprogramming 109 that communicates over the network 101 with the systemserver 100. The specialty application programming 109 can includeprogramming to create large portions of the user interface used by thesecomputing systems 110, 120. The application programming on these devices110, 120 submits to the system server 100 audio and visual informationreceived from microphones and cameras on or connected to the devices110, 120. The application programming 109 on the server 100 thengenerates the audio-visual stream 20 based on this data. The stream 20is received by the application programming on the devices 110, 120, andthen inserted into the user interface created by that programming.

In still other embodiments, one, several, or all of the user computersystems 110 and the luminary computer system 120 are mobile devices suchas tablet computers or smart phones. These devices 110, 120 generallyuse ARM-based RISC processors 102, run mobile device operating systems108, and utilize “apps” downloaded from an app store as theirapplication programming 109. In these cases, the application programming109 can still either take the form of a browser app or a specialtyapplication app that is responsible in part for forming the userinterface show by the devices 110, 120.

In the system server 100, the application programming 109 is dividedinto three main components 140, 150, 160. This division is illustrativeonly, as there is no requirement that the application programming 109for the system server 100 be physically or even functionally separatedinto these three divisions 140, 150, 160. The first of these componentsis connection programming 140. Connection programming 140 is responsiblefor creating and operating the multi-party video stream 20. Inparticular, connection programming 140 determines which user computersystems 110 will be included with the luminary computer system 120 inthe stream 20, ensures that all of the connected computers 110, 120 aretransmitting audio and visual data to the system server 100, uses thereceived audio and visual data to create the multi-party video stream20, and then transmits the multi-party video stream 20 to the connecteduser computers systems 110 and the luminary computer system 120. Theconnection programming 140 is also responsible for receiving inputs fromthe user interfaces provided on the connected devices 110, 120, andadjusting the content of the multi-party video stream 20 as appropriate.For example, in some embodiments, a user may alter the presentation ofthe video stream 20. One user may wish to see the visual of all of theparticipants of the multi-party video stream 20 simultaneously and atequal size, while another user may wish to see only the visual dataprovided by the participant that is currently speaking. These featurescan be provided by the connection programming 140, or by the connectionprogramming 140 working in concert with specialty applicationprogramming on the user and luminary computer systems 110, 120.Furthermore, the connection programming 140 may be responsible forgenerating a stored, audio-video file containing the content of theentire multi-party video stream 20.

Creating Stored Portions

The portion creation programming 150 is responsible for receivingrequests for the creation of stored portions of the audio-visual stream20. To perform this function, the portion creation programming 150 firstreceives a signal from either the luminary computer system 120 or one ofthe user computer systems 110. This signal indicates that a participantwould like to store the current portion of the stream 20 for laterretrieval and sharing. The signal may take the form of a “bookmark”signal, effectively allowing a participant to press a user interfacebutton in order to store an interesting portion of the stream 20 that isoccurring at that moment. Although this can be referred to as abookmark, and the user interface can suggest that the user is requestingthat a bookmark be created, the actually created portion is more than asimple bookmark of a location with the stream 20. Instead, the portionis a recorded sub-section of the material that constitutes the stream.In one embodiment, the portion creation programming 150 notes the timingof the received signal and ensures that the audio and video componentsof the stream 20 surrounding this temporal location are stored for laterretrieval. In other embodiments, the components that make up the stream20 are always stored so that the creation of the portion can occur basedon these stored components.

The portions created by programming 150 can be reviewed by therequesting luminary computer system 120 or user computer system 110after the stream 20 is complete. These portions may be consideredprivate to the requesting computer system 110, 120, in that only therequesting computer system 110, 120 may access that portion. In someembodiments, programming 150 further provides linkages to a social mediasharing server 125. A user or luminary can provide to the system server100 their account information for social media site 125 and then requestthat the portion creation programming 150 share the created portion ontheir account on site 125.

Portion modification programming 160 is provides the requesting luminarycomputer system 120 or user computer system 110 the ability to modifytheir stored portions. The process for modifying a stored portion isdescribed in further detail below.

The last of the programming stored in memory 106 is the data interface171. This interface programming 171 allows the system server 100 and theapplication programming 109 to access, manage, modify, and create storeddata 170. The stored data 170 can be stored on the same computer deviceas the system server 100. Alternatively, the data 170 can be stored onattached storage, or on a storage area network on which the systemserver(s) 100 reside. In still further embodiments, the data 170 ismanaged by a separate computer system that is accessible to the systemserver 100, such as over a local area network, a wide area network, orsome type of direct communication. The data 170 itself can be stored ina structured database in the form of objects in an object-orienteddatabase or within tables in a relational database. In still furtherembodiments, the data 170 is organized in a data store utilizing a knownformat such as key value pairs or tuples. In the present description,the data 170 will be described as being divided into separate dataentities 172-190 which may take the form of a table or object. Thisdescription is illustrative of the type of data being stored and therelationship between the data. Unless otherwise specifically stated inthe claims, there is no requirement, that the data 170 be separated intothe specific data entities 172-190 described herein.

FIG. 2 shows these same data entities 172-190 along with the signals anddata elements that are stored in these entities. The luminary entity 172and the user entity 174 store data associated with the participant usingthe luminary computer system 120 and the participant using the usercomputer system 110, respectively. In particular, information about theuser 210 can be received from the user computer system 110 during theon-boarding process of the user creating an account for use of thesystem 10. This user information 210 is then stored in user data entity174. Similarly, the luminary computer system 120 provides luminaryinformation 212 for data entity 172. This can include backgroundinformation about the luminary that will remind users of the luminary'saccomplishments. This data 212 can also include rate information thatthe luminary specifies that they wish to charge users to engagement in alive audio-video stream 20.

Data 170 also includes a separate preferences data entity 176 thatstores the preferences of the various users and luminaries. Users mayindicate a preference 220 for particular luminaries, or particular typesof luminaries (opera stars, players from particular sports teams, etc.),as well as preferred topics of discussion (such as writing tips providedby author luminaries, or fantasy sports tips provided by sports stars).Luminaries can also provide preference data 222 concerning preferredtopics of discussion. In some embodiments, the luminaries can providepreferences 222 concerning off-limit or black-listed topics (such asromantic relationships or money), which is shown as preference 177 inFIG. 1. Establishing off-limit topics 177 is important to ensureparticipation from the luminaries, and violations of these restrictionsmust be managed carefully. Interfaces and processes for handlingviolations of these types of restrictions are described in more detailbelow.

In order to link the user computers 110 with the luminary computersystem 120, scheduling data 178 must also be maintained and shared. Theluminary computer systems 120 provide availability data 232 that can beshared with user computer systems 110, while a user computer system 110provides selection information 230 in order to select one of theidentified times in the availability data 232 for the stream 20 tooccur.

When the scheduled stream 20 goes live, the system server 100 receivesaudio and visual data 240 from each of the user computer systems 110participating in the stream 20 and also receives similar data 242 fromthe luminary computer system 120. This data 240, 242 is used by theconnection programming 140 to create the audio-visual stream 20 that isshared with the participating computing devices 110, 120. In addition,some embodiments of the server system 100 also use this same data 240,242 and store the data as a single communication data item 180. Thiscommunication data entity 180 stores the entire content of theaudio-visual stream 20. This content is stored as an audio-visual fileusing a standard video codec (such as H.264) and a standard audio codec(such as AAC) in a container file (such as MP4). In some embodiments, asshown in FIG. 3, the audio-visual file 180 contains a single audioelement 310 and a single visual element 320 that combines theaudio-visual data 240, 242 received from the participating computingdevices 110, 120 into a single audio-visual (or video) file 180. In thisembodiment, the separate visual elements from the received data 240, 242can be combined using a standard merging process, such as by presentingeach visual element (the faces of the participants) in equally sizedwindows. Alternatively, the merged visuals 320 may emphasize thecurrently speaking participant in a larger window than the data receivedfrom non-speaking participants.

In other embodiments, all of the video data 240, 242 received from theparticipating computer devices 110, 120 are separately stored as part ofthe communications data entity 180, so that they can be recombined asdesired by the participants at a later time. The audio may still beformed as a single, merged “track” of audio data, but separate visual“tracks” may separately store the visual data received from each of theparticipating computer systems 110, 120.

During the stream 20, the portion creation programming 150 monitorsinputs from the user interfaces created by the user computer system 110and the luminary computer system 120 for a signal 250, 252 indicating adesire to create a portion 190 of the video stream 20. These signals250, 252 and the creation of the portion 190 are shown in more detail inFIGS. 4, 5, and 6.

FIG. 4 shows a timeline 400 in which time passes from left to right.Time T1 402 occurs to the left of time T2 404 on the timeline 400, andtherefore time T1 402 occurs before time 404. At time T1 402, the systemserver 100 receives from the luminary computer 120 a signal 252indicating a desire to save a portion 190 of the audio-visual stream 20.The audio-visual stream 20 in this embodiment consists of an audiostream 410 and a single visual stream 420. Remembering that the luminarycomputer system 120 in at least one embodiment presents to theparticipant using that computer system 120 the ability to alter thevisual presentation of the stream 20 so as to emphasize and change thesizes of different video sources provided to the stream 20. Forinstance, the visual presentation of the stream 20 may change to presentonly the currently speaking participant of the video stream 20 on theentire visual interface. Alternatively, all participants in the stream20 may be shown at different locations on the presented visual interfaceat equal sizes. Consequently, the single visual stream 420 of FIG. 4 maybe the video portion of the stream 20 currently being presented on theluminary computer system 120. Alternatively, the single visual stream420 of FIG. 4 may be an aggregate visual stream 420 created by thesystem server 100 specifically for the purposes of creating luminaryportions 190. In this alternative, each participant can alter theirvisual presentation as they desire during the stream 20, but all storedportions 190 will use the aggregate visual stream 420 created by thesystem server 100 for this purpose.

At time T1 402, the portion creation programming 150 of the systemserver 100 receives the luminary signal 252 indicating a desire to savea portion 190 (aka the bookmark signal). When the signal 252 isreceived, portion creation programming 150 identifies a portion 412 ofthe audio stream 410 and a portion 422 of the visual stream 420 for usein creation the saved portion 190 of the stream 20. The specific portion500 created as a result of signal 252 is shown in FIG. 5. As can beseen, the portion 500 created for the luminary computer system 120consists of the audio segment 412 (“Audio Seg 1”) and the visual segment422 (“Visual Seg 1”) combined into a single video file 500. Each ofthese segments 412, 422 are created based on the time T1 402 at whichthe luminary signal 252 is received. In one embodiment, the beginning ofeach segment occurs at a predetermined amount of time (X) before T1(time 510), while the end of each segment 412, 414 occurs at the samepredetermined time (X) after T1 (time 520). In some embodiments, X is 15seconds. In other embodiments X is longer than 15 seconds (such as 30seconds) or is shorter than 15 seconds. In yet other embodiments, thepredetermined time used for times 510, 520 differs, such that thebeginning time 510 is further or closer to the signal time T1 402 thanthe ending time 520.

As can be seen by the white areas representing segments 412, 422 in FIG.4, the beginning time 510 of portion 500 occurs after time 406 when theentire stream 20 starts, while ending time 520 occurs before time 408when the stream 20 finishes. In other words, portion 500 does not extendeither to the starting time 406 or the finishing time 408 of the stream20.

At time T2 404, the portion creation programming 150 receives the usersignal 250 from a user computer system 110. This triggers theprogramming 150 to create a second portion 190, namely the user portion600 shown in FIG. 6. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, this portion 600consists of Audio Seg 2 414 and Visual Seg 2 424 combined together intoa video file. As was the case above, each of these segments 414, 424 mayextend from a time that is the predetermined time X before T2 (time 610)until a time that is the predetermined time X after T2 (time 620). Thetwo created portions 500, 600 are stored in the database 170 as portions190.

This method for creating portions 190 allows a single action(transmitting signals 250, 252) to define portions 190 with a setbeginning and ending time that are different from (but overlap) the timeat which the actions (and transmitted signals) occur. In other words,the transmission of these signals 250, 252 is the only signal that needsto be received from the computer system 110, 120 in order to create aportion 190. No other signals related to the timing (when the portion190 is taken from inside the stream 20) or duration (the time betweenthe beginning and ending of the portion 190) is required. This isimportant because the signals 250, 252 are generated during the timethat the stream 20 is being transmitted and received. Requiring multiplesignals (turn on recording and turn off recording, etc.) would increasethe amount of effort and concentration required by the participants,which would distract from the enjoyment of the stream 20 itself.

Luminaries and users can review the portions 190 that they create andshare them on a social media sharing site 125 without any additionalediting or definition. Thus, if a moment is occurring in the videostream 20 that a participant wants to remember, the participant simplypresses a button on their respective user interface that transmitssignal 250, 252, and the portion creation programming 150 will store aportion 190 of the stream 20 that contains that memorable moment in data170 for later review and sharing.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of portion creation programming 150 thatis able to store date from multiple visual streams. In particular, FIG.7 shows that a portion 190 can be created storing information from anaudio stream 710 and two visual streams, namely visual stream A 720 andvisual stream B 730. These visual streams 720, 730 may originate at twodifferent computing systems, such as luminary computer 120 and usercomputer 112. In the context of a multi-party video conferencing stream20, each visual stream 720, 730 may contain the image of the face of adifferent participant in that stream 20. It is to be expected that morethan two visual streams 720, 730 could be included. For instance, iffive user computers 110 and one luminary 120 were participating in thestream 20, there would be six different visual streams included.

In the context of FIG. 7, a luminary signal 252 is received at time T1on timeline 700, while a user signal 250 is received at time T2. Theportions 190 created by each of these signals 252, 250 will containmultiple visual segments. Specifically, one visual segment from eachincluded visual stream 720, 730 will be included in each created portion190. Thus, as shown in FIG. 8, the luminary portion 800 includes audiosegment 1 712 from the audio stream 710, visual segment 1.A 722 fromvisual stream A 720, and visual segment 1.B 732 from visual stream B730. As shown in FIG. 8, these segments 712, 722, 732 extend from apredetermined time X before time T1 (T1−X) to the predetermined timeafter time T1 (T1+X). Similarly, the created user portion 900 shown inFIG. 9 contains audio segment 2 714, visual segment 2.A 724 from visualstream A 720, and visual segment 2.B 734 from visual stream B 730. Thesesegments 714, 724, 734 are selected using T2 (the time of receipt of theuser signal 250) and predetermined time X, extending from T2−X to T2+X.As shown in FIG. 7, it is possible for the two portions 800, 900 tooverlap on the timeline 700, such that the beginning of user portion 900occurs in between the beginning of luminary portion 800 and the end ofluminary portion 800. The portions 800, 900 are stored as two separateportions 190 in the data 170. This allows the portions 800, 900 to beindependent, so that any modifications made to one portion 800 will notimpact the other portion 900, and vice versa. In at least oneembodiment, separate video files are used to store these two portions800, 900 in the data 170.

Modifications to Stored Portions

Returning to FIG. 2, it is seen that modifications can be made to aportion 190 using the portion modification programming 160.Modifications may be made by a participant only to the participant's ownportions 190, so the portion 190 being modified must be first requestedby the participant's computer 110, 120 during the stream. As explainedabove, once the portions 190 are created, they are stored in data 170.When the stream 20 has ended, the participants' computer systems 110,120 are informed of any portions 190 that were created for them duringthe stream 20. In some embodiments, the portions 190 are not created bythe server 100 until after termination of the stream 20. Once theportions 190 are created, user interfaces provided to those computers110, 120 will allow the playback of a portion 190, the sharing of theportion 190 over social media sharing 125, or the modification of theportion 190. If the participant wishes to modify the portion 190, theportion modification programming 160 will receive modificationinstructions 260 from the user computer system 110 or similarinstructions 262 from the luminary computer system 120. The modificationprogramming 160 will then apply the requested modifications and create amodified version of the portion 192. The modified portion 192 is thenstored with other portions 190 in the data 170.

As shown in FIG. 8, luminary portion 800 contains multiple visualsegments 722, 732. In these types of embodiments, the requestedmodification to the portion 800 may reflect a user's choice as to howthese different visual segments 722, 732 are integrated together whenthe portion 800 is either presented to the luminary computer 120 orshared to others (such as over the social media sharing site 125). Forinstance, the luminary may wish to have only the visual of the personcurrently speaking being presented in the visual playback of the portion800, meaning that the displayed visuals will switch between visualsegment 1.A 722 and visual segment 1B 732 depending on which person isspeaking. Alternatively, even if there are more than two visual segments722, 732 in the portion 800, the luminary may wish to only havethemselves and one other person visually presented as part of theportion 800. This control of the visual presentation of the portion 800can be saved as a modified version of portion 800 using portionmodification programming 160 so that all future playbacks and sharing ofthe portion 800 will reflect the luminary's edits to this visualpresentation.

In some embodiments, the portions 800, 900 are downloaded and shared asvideo files such as the MP4 containers discussed above. It is possibleto store separate video tracks inside a video container. However, veryfew video players are actually designed to access these multiple videotracks or to switch seamlessly between these tracks. As a result, inmost circumstances, it is preferable to store the multiple visualsegments 722, 724, 732, 734 at the server 100. The user interfacesprovided to the user computer system 110 and the luminary computersystem 120 will then allow the participant to manipulate the multiplevisual segments 722, 724, 732, 734 in order to create a preferred visualpresentation. Once the preferred presentation is identified, the server100 will then generate the portion 190 as a video file with a singlevisual track based upon the participant's modification instructions. Inthis type of embodiment, the originally creation portion 190 generatedby the system server 100 after receiving signal 250 or 252 will alsocontain a single visual track, with the visual presentation being thatwhich the participant was viewing during the stream 20, or some otherpresentation format that merges the different visual segments 722, 724,732, 734 according to default or participant preference settings 176.

FIG. 10 shows a different type of portion modification. In this case, auser modification signal 260 is being received to alter user portion600. As shown in FIG. 6, user portion 600 originally extends from timeT2−X 610 to time T2+X 620 because the request signal 250 was received attime T2 404. After the stream 20 is terminated, the user is able tochange the beginning 610 and ending 620 times by submitting modificationsignal 260. The timeframe of the portion 600 can be changed because ofthe stored communication data 180 described above in connection withFIG. 3. To the extent the user wishes to move the beginning time beforeT2−X 610 or the ending time to after time T2+X, the necessary audio andvideo material can be acquired from the merged audio and visualcomponents 1010, 1020 of the stored communication 180. As shown in FIG.11, the user is able to modify portion so that it extends from new begintime 1110 until new end time 1120. By changing the beginning and endingtimes, a new audio segment 2 1130 and new visual segment 2 1140 arecreated. Together, these two segments 1130, 1140 create a modified userportion 1200 as shown in FIG. 12. Modifications of the begin and endtimes of a portion 190 can also be applied to embodiments where theportions contain multiple visual segments (such as portions 800, 900),as long as the stored communications file 180 also contains separatevisual tracks from each of the participants.

As is suggested by FIGS. 10, 11, 12, some embodiments of system 10 maysimply store the beginning 1110 and ending times 1120 of any segment1200 and extract the necessary audio and visual data from the storeddata 1010, 1020 in the whole stored communication data 180. When theparticipant requests the portion 1200 for sharing or playback, such anembodiment can simply create a new video file based on the data in thestored communication data 180 using the retained beginning time 1110 andending time 1120. Other embodiments create and store the audio andvisual contents of each portion 190 separately from the content of thestored communication 180. In particular, the portion 190 may be storedas a single audio-visual file encoded using a video codec, with eachportion 190 being saved as a file separate from all other portions. Theuse of separate files speeds processing of viewing and sharing requests,as the stored video file that contains the stored portion 190 need onlybe accessed and then be immediately available to beplayed/shared/streamed/downloaded, as requested by the user or luminarycomputers 110, 120.

Method

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a method 1300 for creating and sharingportions 190 in a multi-party audio-visual stream 20. The method beginsat step 1305, in which luminary users on luminary computers 120 andusers on user computers 110 are onboarded into the system 10. In thisprocess, the luminaries and users establish accounts, and then provideuser info 210 and rates and background info 212 into the system database170. Preference data 220, 222 is then received and stored as data 176 instep 1310.

At step 1315, the connection programming 140 receives a request from theuser computers 110 and/or the luminary computer 120 to establish theaudio-visual stream 20 between a plurality of participants. Theconnection programming 140 establishes this connection by interactingwith application programming on the participant computers 110, 120. Theconnection programming 140 then receives audio and visual data 240, 242from the participant computers 110, 120 and creates the multi-partystream 20 at step 1320.

At this point, multiple processes can occur at once. At step 1325, theconnection programming 140 records the audio and visual data 240, 242that makes up the stream 20 as the communications data 180. As explainedabove, this can comprise storing the different data sources separately240, 242, or can comprise creating a single video file containing somecombination or aggregation of the received audio and visual data 240,242.

At step 1330, the portion creation programming 150 can receive signal252 from the luminary computer 120 indicating a desire to store aportion of the stream 20 for later review, sharing, and editing. Theportion creation programming 150 then, at step 1335, creations theportion 190 based on the timing of the received signal 252. As explainedabove, one embodiment uses a predefined time period X, and starts theportion 190 at the received time minus X and ends the portion 190 at thereceived time plus X. Arrow 1337 indicates that the luminary computer120 is able to submit multiple signals 252 in order to create multipleportions 190 in the same stream 20. Simultaneously, one or more of theuser computers 110 can submit signals 250 at step 1340. These signals250 also cause the portion creation programming 150 to create portions190 for the user computers 110 at step 1345 based on the timing of thesesignals 250. At arrow 1347, it is clarified that multiple portions 190can be created for each user computer 110, as well as separate portions190 for the separate user computers 110 that are participating in thestream 20.

At step 1350, the connection programming 140 ends the stream 20. At thispoint, the system server 100 displays to each computer 110, 120 thatparticipated in the stream 20 a list of the portions 190 that werecreated for that computer 110, 120. In some embodiments, the systemserver 100 also provides an opportunity for the participant to downloadthe entire saved copy of the communication 180 in addition to presentingthe bookmarks.

At step 1355, the users of these computers 110, 120 can display theirsaved portions 190 and can share the portions with other user computers110, with the social media sharing site 125, or through othertechniques. These other techniques might include downloading a videofile containing the portion 190 or copying and sharing a URL link to thelocation of the portion 190 on a website maintained by the system server100. When followed, this link can cause the system server 100 to presentthe linked-to stored portion 190 to the browser that presented theserver 100 with the URL link.

At step 1360, either a user computer 110 or the luminary computer 120can send modification instructions 260, 262, respectively to the portionmodification programming 160. As explained above, the participants canamend one of their portions 190 by changing the beginning or ending timefor the portion 190. To the extent they wish to extend the portion 190either before the beginning or beyond the end, audio and video data fromthe stored communication data 180 can be utilized. Alternatively, or inaddition, the participant may wish to change the visual presentation ofthe portion 190. In the context of a multi-party video conference stream20, the change to the visual presentation may change the emphasis orsize of the various video components provided by the different computers110, 120 during the stream. The modified portions 192 can then be sharedat step 1365 in the same manner as the original portions 190 were sharedat step 1360. The method then ends at step 1370.

Note the minor variations in method 1300 are possible. For example, anembodiment might allow a participant to create a new bookmark even afterthe stream 20 has ended at step 1350. This could be provided when theuser selects to review the entire, saved communication 180. As part ofplaying back the communication 180 to the participant, an interfacebutton could be provided to create a new portion 190 based on thecurrently being viewed portion of the communication 180. The createdportion 190 could then be reviewed, downloaded, shared, and modified inthe same manner as the portions 190 created during the stream 20.

User Interfaces for Content Monitoring and Quarantine

In some embodiments, one or more participants can impose contentrestrictions on the video stream 20. In the case of multiple usercomputers 110 being operated by users that pay compensation toparticipate in stream 20 with a luminary using luminary computer system120, it is usually the luminary computer system 120 that imposes thecontent restriction. In order for the luminary to agree to participatein the stream 20, the luminary will desire some protection that certaintopics will remain off-limits. Furthermore, to the extent these topicsare broached, the luminary will desire the ability to prevent therelease of any saved content related to a stream 20 where these topicswere raised.

To accomplish this, the system 10 utilizes the participant andadministrative user interfaces set forth in FIGS. 14-21, and the method2200 discussed in connection with the flow chart of FIG. 22. These userinterfaces provide the ability to control the content of the videostream 20 and prevent the release of any content that violates theexpectations of the participants. Other approaches do not provide theefficacy of the interfaces presented here, particularly when these userinterfaces are utilized in connection with method 2200.

In order to control the content of the stream, the system 10 must firstallow a participant such as the luminary to store preference data 176indicating their content desires. FIG. 14 shows a user interface 1400that is generated by the system 10 for the luminary computer system 120.When the user interface 1400 is provided through the World Wide Web,application programming 109 on the luminary computer system 120 willtake the form of a browser, while the interface 1400 will be generatedby a web server operating as part of the application programming 109 onthe system server 100. In embodiments where the luminary computer system120 operates a specialty application or app, the interface 1400 may becreated through this specialty app running on the luminary computersystem 120, with data being shared between this specialty app and thesystem server 100 over the network 101. In FIG. 14, the interface 1400is shown as an interface provided to a mobile device such as a smartphone 120. In other embodiments, the dimensions of the interface can bealtered to appear as a landscape interface more appropriate for acomputer screen. The actual dimensions of the interface 1400 isrelatively unimportant, which is also true of the user interfaces shownin FIGS. 14-21.

Interface 1400 is a preferences interface that includes a prompt 1410 todescribe topics that the luminary may prefer to discuss. A general textbox 1412 is provided in the interface 1400 for the luminary to enter alist of, or a provide description of, the conversation topics that arepreferred. More importantly, the interface 1400 provides the ability todefine off-limits topics 177 (sometimes referred to as a blacklist offorbidden topics). Prompt 1420 encourages the luminary to consider thosetopics 177. Entry area 1422 includes the ability to create a list oftopics, with some topics immediately presented in the form of a checklist. In entry area 1422, both relationships and money are suggested aspossible off-limit topics, with the ability for the luminary to manuallyadd additional topics to the list. Selecting either relationships ormoney as off-limits topic is as simple as clicking on the box presentedto the left of each entry.

The entered off-limits topics 177 need to be understood by all the otherparticipants in the stream 20 in order for these preferences to berespected. In one embodiment, an interface 1500 for the user computersystems 110 is shown in FIG. 15 that introduces the topic limitations177. In this interface, a user computer system 110 is attempting tofinalize an appointment for stream 20 (also referred to as a streamingsession 20 or session 20) with luminary Mary Jones. The cost, type ofsession 20, and the date and time for the session 20 are presented onthis interface 1500. In addition, the interface 1500 may request thatthe user identify a general topic or focus 1510 for the requestedstream. Alternatively, the focus of the discussion 1510 may have beeninput by the user in an earlier interface screen and is simply beingpresented here for confirmation purposes. By requesting that the usercomputer 110 identify a proposed focus for the stream 20, the system 10encourages the user to think about the types of questions andconversations that will be covered. Pre-thinking the topic of thestreaming session 20 increases the likelihood that all parties willappreciate and enjoy the stream 20. Immediately adjacent the entering orthe confirmation of the requested focus 1510 is a statement 1520explaining that some topics 177 are off-limits in the conversation. Byhaving the interface display a general focus for the discussion 1510 andthe off-limit topics 1520 side-by-side, users will be reminded of theimportance of staying away from the off-limit topics 177. Note that thesystem 10 is not necessarily trying to limit the stream 20 only to theuser's identified focus 1510, rather the system 10 uses interface 1500to emphasize the importance of the user not straying into topics 1520that are off-limits. To further emphasize this, the interface 1500presents to the user computer 110 a confirmation statement 1530 whereuser computer system must receive some action of assent to stay awayfrom the off-limit topics 177 in order to move forward with the process.In the context of FIG. 15, the action of assent required by 1530 ischecking the box agreeing to the topic limits.

Although interface 1500 is presented when a user is requesting a videostream 20, a nearly identical interface 1500 can be presentedimmediately before a user computer system 110 joins the stream 20. Theinterface 1500 in that context will remind the user of the luminary andother participants on the call, the duration of the call, the identifiedfocus 1510 entered by the user, and the off-limit topics 1520.Furthermore, the interface 1500 in that context can once again requirethe user computer system 110 submit confirmation 1530 that the useragrees to the topic limits 1520.

Reporting Violation Interfaces

After a session 20 is complete, a feedback interface 1600 is presentedto the user computer systems 110 and the luminary computer system 120.The feedback interface 1600 requests standard feedback information aboutthe session 20, such as feedback on the quality of the communication1620 during the session 20, the timeliness of the participants 1630, andthe quality of the audio and visual portions 1640 of the session 20. Inaddition, the feedback interface 1600 allows participants to report anyinappropriate actions to the administrators of the system 10 usingreport interface element 1610. A flag is illustrated at report button1610 to indicate that pressing on this interface element 1610 will flagthe session 20 and the recorded communications 180 and portions 190 forfurther review.

If a user flags the session 20 using element 1610, a reporting interface1700 is presented on the participant's computer system 110, 120. Thereporting interface 1700 allows the user to choose one of three reasonsto report the session at interface section 1710. The first of thesereasons is that the participant arrived late or left earlier. Rememberthat either a user or a luminary may report a session 20. This arrivinglate or leaving early reason for reporting a session is most likely tobe employed by a user, in that they are paying compensation for thechance to participant in a stream 20 with the luminary. If the luminarydoes not attend for the full time period paid for by the user(s), theycan report the session using interfaces 1600, 1700. The second reason ininterface section 1710 is that one of the participants engaged ininappropriate behavior. Frequently, inappropriate behavior by aparticipant can be embarrassing or even traumatizing to otherparticipants, so this reason give the ability to report this behavior.This reason would likely be selected by both user computer systems 110and the luminary computer system 120. The third reason set forth ininterface 1700 is that the participants failed to follow the topiclimitations 177. Listing this reason in interface section 1710 allowsthe luminary to easily report instances where users asked questionsabout, or directed the conversation toward, topics that the luminaryindicated were off-limit topics 177. Box 1720 allows the reportingparticipant to provide additional comments or details concerning theactivity. At interface section 1730, the reporting participant can askto engage in further communications with the administrator (or arepresentative of the administrator) of the system 10. The participantmay wish to provide further details or may simply want reassurance thatthe report has been received and is being handled by the system 10.Finally, button 1740 allows the reporting participant to complete thereporting process and submit their report.

In the preferred embodiment, the reporting of a streaming session usinginterface 1700 has two immediate effects. First, any compensation thatwas paid by the user computer participants is frozen. If the stream 20had not been reported, this compensation would have entered into thepayment mechanisms of the system 10, and compensation would be providedto the participant using the luminary computer system 120. Upon thereporting of an issue, no such payment would be made. Second, therecorded communications 180 and portions 190 of the stream 20 are alsolocked down, meaning that none of the participants can view, download,share, or modify these video files. These two effects are both referredto as quarantines. Both the payment and the videos remain in quarantineuntil an operator of the administrative computer 130 resolves thereport. In some embodiments, the recoded communications 180 and portions190 of the stream are quarantined only with respect to the party thatwas the subject of the report, while the preferred embodimentquarantines these video files from all participants during thequarantine.

FIGS. 16 and 17 divide the feedback interface 1600 and the reportsession interface 1700 into separate interfaces presented at differenttimes to a participant computer system 110, 120. In other embodiments,the content of the two interfaces 1600, 1700 could be combined into asingle feedback interface, or the feedback interface could be consideredto have two portions including general feedback provided through theelements of interface 1600 and reporting feedback provided through theelements of interface 1700.

Administrative User Interfaces

FIG. 18 shows an overall administrative interface 1800 presented to theadministrator computer system 130. This interface 1800 can be considereda dashboard interface, in that it presents an overall picture as to theoperation and running of the system 10. In the preferred embodiment,this dashboard interface 1800 presents a plurality of tiles 1812, 1814,1822, 1832, 1842 that both contain useful information and provide a linkto further details about that information. In some embodiments, thetiles 1812, 1814, 1822, 1832, 1842 represent user interface buttons,where a push changes the user interface 1800 to provide more detailsabout the information displayed. In other embodiments, a separate“details” or “go” button can appear within each tile for the samefunctionality.

These tiles 1812, 1814, 1822, 1832, 1842 are arranged into topicalcolumns identified by topic headings 1810, 8120, 1830, and 1840. Ininterface 1800, topic column 1810 provides information about feedbackreceived from the participant computer systems 110, 120. In particular,a reported session tile 1812 in this column 1810 indicates that that 6sessions (streams 20) have been reported using the reporting interface1700 to the system 10. This number can indicate the total number ofstreams 20 reported, the total number of streams 20 reported in a giventimeframe (today, this week, this month, etc.), the total number ofreported streams 20 that are still being processed, or the total numberof reported streams 20 that have yet to begin processing by theadministrative computer system 130. A second feedback tile 1814 providesthe actual feedback scores provided by participants using the feedbackinterface element 1620 over the last seven days. The accounts column1820 in interface 1800 presents a single tile 1822 showing the actualnumber of active accounts. The sessions column 1830 also presents asingle tile 1832. This tile 1832 shows the current number of activesessions or streams 20. Finally, the system column 1840 shows an overalldiagnostic tile 1842, which in this case shows that the overall statusof system 10 is currently “OK.”

Tile 1812 shows the administration computer system 130 that six streams20 have resulted in reports being generated. This tile does notdistinguish between reports generated by user computer 110 participantsand luminary computer 120 participants. In many contexts, thisdistinction is important, as resolving reports from luminary computers120 can be considered more urgent, needing more prompt resolution.Alternative interface 1900 of FIG. 19 shows how separate tiles can begenerated based on luminary feedback 1910 and user feedback 1920.Luminary feedback 1910 include a tile 1912 showing that luminaries havereported two stream sessions, while tile 1922 shows that user computers110 have reported four streams 20. This interface 1900 also includesseparate tiles for luminary feedback scores 1914 and user feedbackscores 1924.

Selecting tile 1812 (or selecting a button on tile 1812) can result inthe presentation of a reported session list interface 2000 on theadministrative computer system 130, as shown in FIG. 20. This interface2000 includes a list 2010 of reported sessions. The list 2010 ispresented in a plurality of columns 2020-2060 showing data about eachreport made. Column 2020 shows the name of the participant that made thereport, while column 2030 indicates whether the participant was using auser computer system 110 (the participant was a user) or was using aluminary computer system 120 (the participant was a luminary). The dateof the report 2040 and the type of complaint 2050 are also shown. In oneembodiment, the type of complaint 2050 is the same information that theuser provided in interface segment 1710 in FIG. 17. If multiple types ofcomplaints were made in interface segment 1710 about the same stream 20,multiple complaints will be listed in column 2050. Finally, the status2060 of the report is also shown. In one embodiment, the status of areport can be a “new” (the report has not yet been processed), it can bea “resolved” complaint (the report has been resolved), or it can be“contacted” (the reporting participant requested personal communication,and that communication has not yet completed).

Interface 2100 of FIG. 21 is used by the administrative computer system130 to handle each report. A particular report is first selected fromthe report list 2010 for processing. In the example of FIG. 21, thecomplaint from luminary Mary Jones has been selected. Once selected,interface 2100 will then present the details from the report list 2010in the header section 2110 of the interface 2100, including the name2020 of the participant making the report (Mary Jones), their type 2030(Luminary), the date of the report 2040 (Aug. 20, 2022), and the type ofcomplaint 2050 (topic limit violation). A contact button 2120 can beplaced adjacent to the participant's name in order to initiate acommunication with the participant. The communication created byselecting the contact button 2120 can vary according to what isconvenient for both the administrator and the reporting participant. Forinstance, the communication can remain entirely within the applicationprogramming 109 provided by the system 10. Alternatively, thecommunication can occur through email exchanges, text messages,telephone calls, or effectively any type of communication. Preferably,the communication will be initiated automatically through computerprogramming whenever the administrator computer 130 receives a selectionof the contact button 2120.

Because each report is provided about a particular stream 20, detailsabout the stream 20 being reported are also provided in interface 2100.In particular, the scheduled session time 2130 for the stream 20 ispresented, along with the time 2140 when the report was made. In thiscase, the stream was scheduled to run on Aug. 20, 2022 from 8 to 8:15 amEastern Daylight Time. The report was made by Mary Jones on 8:14 of thatsame morning. Mary Jones apparently ended the stream 20 before itsscheduled finish time and filed a report one minute before the stream 20was scheduled to end. We know from information 2050 that Mary Jones isreporting that the users in this stream 20 committed a topic limitviolation. In particular, Mary Jones provided the comment “Repeatedlydiscussed income” 2150 when making the report. This comment would beprovided in the comment box interface element 1720 of interface 1700.Finally, data element 2160 indicates that Mary Jones did not requestpersonal contact by an administrator, meaning that the administrativecomputer system 130 is free to resolve this complaint without directcommunications with Mary Jones.

Interface 2100 is designed specifically to provide an administratorusing computer system 130 with the information needed to understand andresolve the reported complaint 2050. In this case, Mary Jones hasreported the stream 20 for violating her off-limit topics preferences177. Thus, interface 2100 will display at 2170 the off-limit topicspre-selected by Mary Jones. In this case, luminary Mary Jones previouslyused interface element 1422 to indicate that she did not want to discussincome or relationships. We know from interface elements 1520 and 1530that the user computer systems 110 participating in this stream 20 musthave all agreed to not discuss these topics 2170. As a result, if thecomment 2150 is accurate, the user computer systems 110 participatingthe stream 20 violated that requirement.

The presentation of off-limit topics 2170 in interface 2100 may not benecessary if the complaint 2050 was not related to a topic limitviolation. For instance, if the complaint 2050 was that a luminarycomputer system 120 left the stream 20 early, or arrived late, theoff-limit topics 2170 would be irrelevant. Instead, it would benecessary for the administrative computer 130 to know when eachparticipant joined and left the stream 20. This information is presentedon interface 2100 at interface element 2180. While some embodiments mayalways provide both the off-limit topics 2170 and the start and stoptimes for participants 2180 in interface 2100, other embodiments mayselectively provide one or the other depending upon the complaint 2050presented in the report.

In most every report, the administrative computer 130 will need topresent the actual recording of the stream 20, which is foundcommunication data entity 180. Selecting button 2190 will present thisrecording 180, allowing the administrator to play, fast forward, andrewind through the recorded stream 180 as necessary to verify thecomplaint 2050. In one embodiment, the recording 180 will play in apop-up window over this interface 2100.

Once the communication recording 180 has been reviewed, the interface2100 will be ready to receive the resolution of the report throughbuttons 2192-2198. Remember that the compensation paid and thecommunication 180 and portions 190 were automatically put intoquarantine on the making of the report. If the administrator does notfind a violation after reviewing the communication 180, button 2192 willbe pressed. This will release the payment, the communication 180, andthe portions 190 from quarantine. Participant computers will then beable to play, download, and share the communication 180 and portions190, and modify the portions 190 as desired. Furthermore, thecompensation paid by the users will be distributed, in part, to theluminary using the luminary computer system 120.

If the user was in violation of the established policies (discussing theoff-limit topics 177, for instance), button 2194 will be pressed. Inthis case, the communication 180 and portions 190 will be kept inquarantine indefinitely. The user computer systems 110 will not be ableto access their recorded communication 180 or any of the portions 190that they created. The payment will be accepted, and the luminary willbe compensated for their participation in the stream 20.

If a user computer system 110 reported a violation from the luminary(such as the luminary showing up early or late, or unacceptablebehavior), the review of the report may indicate that the luminary wasin violation. In this case, button 2196 may be pressed. This means thatthe payment would be reimbursed to the user computer systems 110. Inmost embodiments, the communications 180 and the portions 190 wouldremain quarantined, but some embodiments may release some or all ofthese recordings 180, 190 to non-violating users. Button 2198 is usedmerely to indicate that this report has been resolved. Upon pressingthis button 2198, the report status 2060 will change to resolved, andinterface 2100 will close. In other embodiments, no “mark as resolved”button 2198 is presented, and pressing any of 2192, 2194, and 2196 willautomatically mark the report as resolved. Once resolution is reached ona report, communication will be provided to all of the participantsconcerning the resolution.

Method for Content Monitoring and Quarantine

A method 2200 for content monitoring and quarantine is shown in the flowchart of FIG. 22. The first step 2205 is the onboarding of the luminaryand users, which is similar to step 1305 discussed above. Preferences176 are received from the user in step 2210, while preferences of theluminaries are received in step 2215. The latter step 2215 will includereceiving normal preferences 176 while also receiving one or moreoff-limit topics 177 for the luminary.

At step 2220, the system 10 receives a request to establish a streamcommunications session. Before beginning the stream 20, the system 10will reminder the user computers systems 110 of the off-limit topics atstep 2225. As shown in user interface 1500, this can include arequirement that the user computer systems 110 receive input of anaffirmative agreement 1530 that the users agree to abide by thisoff-limit topics requirement. At step 2230 the stream 20 is provided tothe participants, and at step 2235 the stream 20 is concluded. Theconclusion of the stream 20 may be because of the pre-determined endingtime had been reached. Alternatively, one or more of the participantsmay have terminated the stream 20 early because of some violation of therules or standards by other participants.

At the end of the stream 20, the feedback interface 1600 will bepresented to the participants. This interface 1600 includes a userinterface element 1610 that can be selected to report a violation ofstandards or rules. If element 1610 is selected, the report interface1700 will allow participants to provide a reason 1710 for reporting thestream 20. The interface 1700 also allows the participant to leavecomments 1720 about the stream 20 that would helpful during the reviewprocess, and request a contact from an administrator 1730. The systemserver 100 receives this report at step 2240.

Once the report is received, the system server 100 will quarantine thepayment made for the stream 20 and will also quarantine anycommunication 180 and portions 190 created from the audio and visualcontent of the stream 20. This occurs at step 2245. While in quarantine,the payment is not distributed to the luminary, and none of theparticipants are able to access the communication 180 or portions 190.

At step 2250, the system server 100 provides the administrator computersystem 130 with an administration interface 1800 containing tiles 1812,1814, 1822, 1832, 1842 providing information about the system 10 andlinks to further details. This occurs at step 2250. If the administratorcomputer system 130 receives a selection of the reported streams tile1812 (or tiles 1912, 1922 from alternative interface 1900), a list ofreported sessions 2010 is provided through interface 2000 at step 2255.By selecting one reported stream 20 from the list, a report handinginterface 2100 is provided to the administrator computer system 130(step 2260). This interface 2100 provided details about the stream 20,about the off-limits topics 177 specified by the luminary, and about thevarious start and stop times for each of the participants in the stream20. Using a single click of button 2190, the user of the administrativecomputer system 130 is able to immediately see a playback of the stream20 by playing the communication video file 180 (step 2265). In this way,the administrator is able to immediately compare the actual content ofthe stream 20 with the reported reason 2050 and comments 2150.

After the review of step 2265, method 2200 is able to provide aone-click resolution of the report at step 2270. This resolution isperformed by clicking one of buttons 2192, 2194, or 2196 on interfacescreen 2100. As explained above, if the administrator does not find aviolation, button 2192 will be pressed at step 2275, which will releasethe payment, communication 180, and the portions 190 from quarantine. Ifthe user was in violation, button 2194 will be pressed at step 2280,meaning that the communication 180 and portions 190 will be kept inquarantine indefinitely, and the luminary will be compensated for theirparticipation in the stream 20. If the luminary was in violation, button2196 may be pressed at step 2285, meaning that the payment received fromthe user computer systems 110 will be reimbursed. At step 2285, thecommunications 180 and the portions 190 can remained quarantined, butsome embodiments may release these items 180, 190 to the non-violatingusers. After selecting one of these buttons 2192, 2194, or 2196, thereport on this stream 20 is marked as resolved at step 2290. In someembodiments, an additional button 2198 may be pressed as an extra stepresolve the report. Once resolved, a communication is transmitted to theparticipants concerning the resolution.

The system 10 and the method 2200 can be utilized to present a pluralityof different streams 20 to different pluralities of participant computersystems 110, 120. Different reports from these different streams 20results in the plurality of reported sessions found in list 2010. Inresolving these different reports, the same administrative computersystem 130 can resolve some reports as having no violation of any rulesand thereby releasing the payment and video 180, 190 from quarantine(step 2275), and resolve other reports as showing that a violation tookplace, thereby maintaining the quarantine on the video files 180, 190while distributing the payment is an manner consistent with the partiesactions.

The interfaces shown in FIGS. 14-21 and described above allow for morecontrol over the content of a multi-party video stream then any contentcontrol interfaces previously known to the inventors. Users are requiredto agree to avoid off-limit topics 177 specified by luminaries.Luminaries and users can easily report problem behaviors during thesession 20 through the interface screen immediately presented after thestream 20 is terminated. Reports made through this interface immediatelyresult in quarantining video access to portions 190 and the stream 20 asa whole, as well as quarantining any compensation paid for participatingin the stream. Administrative interfaces 2000, 2100 allow for quickerunderstanding of the reporting issues, quicker review of the potentiallyoffending stream 20, and quicker resolution of the report than any knownprior art interfaces.

Meet Now Instigation

FIG. 23 shows a luminary dashboard interface 2300 that is presented onthe luminary computer system 120. The dashboard interface 2300 presentsuseful information about the system 10 to the luminary using computersystem 120. From this interface 2300, the luminary can edit theirprofile and preference settings 176 by simply pressing button 2310. Byediting profile settings, the luminary can change data entered duringthe on-boarding process, such a biographical data and images. Thisbutton 2310 will also allow a luminary to alter their preferencesettings 176 including their list of off-limit topics 177

Interface 2300 also identifies the user's scheduled availability forfuture streams 2320; their upcoming, already scheduled streams 2330;their previous, already completed streams 2342; and the saved portions2350 comprising the portions 190 that they saved during previous streams20. Each of these interface sections 2320, 2330, 2340, 2350 can bepresented in interface 2300 as a list. In one embodiment, each item inthe list 2320, 2330, 2340, 2350 can be separately selected andviewed/edited from this interface 2300. In other embodiments, the lists2320, 2330, 2340, 2350 are presented along with edit or play buttons2322, 2332, 2342, 2352 associated with each list 2320, 2330, 2340, 2350,respectively. For example, if the luminary wishes to edit theiravailable times, they can press interface button 2322. Similarly, ifthey wish to edit an upcoming stream 20 or even start a soon-to-startstream 20, they will utilize button 2332. Buttons 2342 and 2352 can beused to play and edit recorded stream communications 180 and storedportions 190, respectively.

In addition to these other elements, user interface 2300 presents a meetnow button 2360. The meet now functionality offers a different techniquefor scheduling/initiating a stream 20. Rather than creating a scheduleof available times (as would be shown in list 2320), the meet nowfeature allows the luminary computer system 120 to become immediatelyavailable for entering into a stream 20 with any user computer systems110 that is available and interested in participating.

FIG. 24 shows how the meet to functionality is provided by theapplication programming 109 of the system server 100. As explainedabove, this application programming 109 include the connectionprogramming 140, the portion creation programming 150, and the portionmodification programming 160. The connection programming 140 includesscheduling programming 2400. Scheduling programming 2400 allows theluminary computer system 120 to established times 2320 during which theluminary computer system 120 is available for a stream 20. User computersystems 110 can review these times 2320, select a time, pay for thesession, and then connect at the scheduled time with the luminarycomputer system 120 in the stream 20.

Connection programming 140 also includes meet now programming 2410. Themeet now programming 2410 and overall process is sometimes referred toas the “live call” or “live stream” process. The meet now programming2410 is shown in FIG. 24 with four different components or parts 2420,2430, 2440, 2450. Although FIG. 24 shows this programming 2410 withthese four parts 2420, 2430, 2440, 2450, once again this division isillustrative only, as there is no requirement that the programming 2410be physically or even functionally separated into these elements.

This first element is the start stream programming 2420. Thisprogramming 2420 receives the request from the luminary computer 120 tostart a meet now stream, such as through the selection of button 2360 ininterface 2300. In addition, the start stream programming 2420 willreceive requests from user computers systems 110 to participate in themeet now stream, and will join the various participating computersystems 110, 120 into the meet now stream. The operate streamprogramming 2430 is responsible for receiving the audio and visual datafrom the participating computer systems 110, 120; generating the stream;storing the communication database entity 180; and receiving therequests for, and creating, portions 190.

The queue programming 2440 generates and maintains a queue or waitinglist for the meet now stream. In the preferred embodiment, only alimited number of user computer systems 110 can participate in a meetnow stream with a luminary computer system 120. This limit is especiallyimportant because, in most cases, the individual user computer systems110 that are participating in the meet now stream 20 were not related orconnected to each other. This is not usually a group of friendsparticipating in the stream 20, which is frequently the case withstreams created with the scheduling programming 2400. Rather, this iseither a first-come, first serve stream or an auction-based stream.Therefore, it is best to limit the number of participants in the streamto ensure a quality experience for everyone. In some embodiments, thepositions of the user computer systems 110 in the queue is maintained,in part, by auction programming 2450. This programming 2450 allows usercomputer systems 110 to contribute additional compensation to changetheir position with the queue. In some embodiments, this additionalcompensation is directed toward charitable organizations, with only theoriginal per-minute fees being shared between the luminary and theoperators of the system 10.

If the luminary computer system 120 receives a selection of the meet nowbutton 2360, a meet now confirmation interface 2500 as shown in FIG. 25will be presented. This interface 2500 includes a reminder of the ratethat will be charged per participant 2510 in the meet now stream 20.This rate can be changed in the luminary preferences 176 through button2310. Meet now streams 20 are generally limited to the participation ofabout three or four user computer systems 110 along with the luminarycomputer system 120. At the rate 2510 of $5 per minute, a total chargeof $1,200 per hour would be collected if four user computer systems 110were allowed to participate in the stream 20.

Interface 2500 also shows a link 2520 that can be used for user computersystems 110 to request participation in the meet now stream 20. Thislink 2520 can take the form of a URL link and can be used by theluminary computer system 120 to spread the word that the luminary is nowconducting a meet now stream 20 on system 10. For example, the link 2520can be included in a social media post 2610 on social medial platform2600, as shown in FIG. 26. This post 2610 might be, for example, a tweet2610 on the Twitter social media platform 2600 (provided by Twitter,Inc. of San Francisco, Calif.), or an Instagram post 2610 on theInstagram platform 2600 (provided by Facebook, Inc. of Menlo Park,Calif.). Followers of the luminary on these platforms 2600 can followthe link to an Internet location that submits requests to join the meetnow stream 20 to the system server 100.

Returning to FIG. 25, interface 2500 also include the ability for theluminary computer system 120 to receive a duration 2530 for the meet nowstream 20. If a duration 2530 is selected, the operate streamprogramming 2430 will track the duration of the stream 20 and providewarnings when the time is almost over. The stream 20 can closeautomatically at the end of this duration 2530, or a message can bepresented on the luminary computer system 120 stating that the duration2530 has now elapsed. If only a message is shown, then the operatestream programming 2430 will only close the stream 20 after receiving anexplicit instruction to end the stream 20 from the luminary.

Button 2540 instructs the system server 100 to begin the meet now stream20. Any user computer systems 110 that choose to enter this stream 20will be charged rate 2510. In some circumstances, it may be desirable tohave a free meet now stream. This might be done at the desire of theluminary to have a no-charge stream 20, or merely to test or demonstratethe meet now process. If a free stream 20 is desired, button 2550 willbe selected. This will also start the meet now stream 20, but usercomputers systems 110 that enter this stream 20 will not be charged.

When the meet now stream 20 has begun, a user interface 2700 such asthat shown in FIG. 27 will be presented through the luminary computersystem 120. In FIG. 27, three user computer systems 110 are currentlycommunicating with this luminary computer system 120 over the meet nowstream 20, with the visual data 240 from these computers systems 110being presented in interface areas 2710, 2712, and 2714. In thepreferred embodiment, the names associated with the users operatingthese user computer systems 110 are displayed in or adjacent to theseareas 2710, 2712, 2714. This allows the luminary seeing this interface2700 to know that visual images of Fred Smith appear at 2710, Jane Jonesat 2712, and Luis Rodriguez at 2714. This interface 2700 is configuredto allow four user computer systems 110 to be presented. The fourthlocation 2720 in FIG. 27 indicates that a new user computer system 110(one associated with John Frank) is about to join the meet now stream20. Meet now streams 20 are designed to have participants leave thestream and new ones join. In this case, one user computer system 110 mayhave just left, and a new fourth user computer system 110 belonging toJohn Frank is replacing the departing system 110 at location 2720.

The interface 2700 also shows at 2730 that there are a total of sevenusers waiting in the queue. Thus, we know that the new user computersystem 110 joining at location 2720 is likely arriving after waiting inthat queue. Location 2740 of interface 2700 shows the visuals beingprovided to the stream 20 by the luminary computer system 120 so thatthe luminary can see their own image.

At the bottom of interface 2700, three control buttons 2750-2770 providecontrol options. The luminary can end the stream 20 by pressing button2750. User computer systems 110 are all warned that the luminarycomputer system 120 can end the stream 20 whenever desired. This button2750 provides that ability. Button 2760 allows the luminary to sendsignal 252 to the system server 100 requesting that a portion 190 begenerated for the luminary. Finally, button 2770 gives the luminarycomputer system 120 the ability to control the audio of all otherparticipants in the stream. If a stream 20 is getting out of control, orone user computer system 110 is unduly dominating the conversation, orif the luminary wishes to give a warning or reminder about off-limittopics 177, the mute all button 2770 can be pressed and the luminarycomputer system 120 will be the only participant that can transmit audioover the stream 20. In other embodiments, audio from the otherparticipants is reduced but not completely eliminated in order for theluminary computer system 120 to be the only audible source of audio onthe stream. The button 2770 can be pressed again to return audiocapabilities to the other participants.

This interface 2700 is not significantly different than the interfacethat would be provided to the luminary computer system 120 during astream 20 created by the scheduling portion 2400 of the connectionprogramming 140. With scheduling programming 2400, there would be noqueue, so no need to identify the number of users in the queue 2730. Norwould user computer systems 110 leaving the stream 20 be automaticallyreplaced by new user computer systems 110. But otherwise, the interfacecould be effectively the same.

User Interaction with a Meet Now Stream

User computer systems 110 may learn about an imminent or currentlyrunning meet now stream 20 in a variety of ways, including social mediaposts 2610 or other direct communications with the luminary. Inaddition, the system server 100 can communicate this directly toconnected user computer systems 110. In FIG. 28, a luminary profileinterface 2800 is shown as it might be presented on a user computersystem 110. In this case, luminary Mary Jones has shared details abouther life and profession, including images, at location 2820, and alsohas indicated her schedule of available times for a scheduled stream 20at location 2830. This schedule 2830 could be reviewed by the usercomputer system 110, and an open time slot could be accepted. Thescheduling programming 2400 would then schedule the stream 20 andinitiate the stream with the participants at the scheduled time. Thisinterface 2810 also includes a meet now button 2810. The presence ofthis button 2810 on the profile interface 2800 indicates that Mary Jonesis currently participating (or about to participate) in a meet nowstream 20. If the meet now button 2810 were absent, this would mean thatMary Jones is not hosting a meet now stream 2810.

If a user computer system 110 receives a selection of this button 2810,the system server 100 will check to see whether there is currently spacein the meet now stream of Mary Jones. If all of the slots (such as slots2710, 2712, 2714, 2720) available for user computer systems 110 toparticipate in the meet now stream 20 is full, interface 2900 of FIG. 29will be presented on the user computer system 110. This interface 2900includes an explanatory message 2910 that indicates that the meet nowstream 20 is current full, but that it is possible to wait in a queuefor an open slot in the stream 20. The interface 2900 presents twooptions in response to this message 2910: to join the queue using button2920, or to cancel the request to meet now with Mary Jones using cancelbutton 2930. If the cancel button 2930 is pressed, the user computersystem 110 returns to interface 2880.

If there is an available slot after button 2810 is pressed, or if theuser agrees to join the queue using button 2920, interface 3000 of FIG.30 is presented. The purpose of this interface 3000 is to ensure thatthe user is aware of the details of the meet now stream 20, includingthe pay-per-minute requirement. Thus, this interface 3000 presents thecost for participation 3010 up front. Following this is the detailsconcerning the stream 3020, including the date, the fact that theluminary computer system 120 can end the stream at any time, and thefact that there will be multiple user computer systems 110 participatingin the stream. After presenting this information, the interface 3000again presents two options. The first is to continue with the process atbutton 3030, and the second is to cancel the process at button 3040 andreturn to interface 2800.

If the user computer system 110 receives a request to continue with themeet now process through button 3030, the payment interface 3100 ispresented. The first portion of this interface 3100 is the paymentdetails 3110, which allows the user computer system 110 to providepayment details (such as credit card information) so that payment can bemade for participating in the meet now stream 20. After these detailsare accepted, the user computer system 110 must determine whether theuser wants to approve payment for an open-ended participation in thestream 20, or whether the user wants to cap their payment for a setnumber of minutes. If the user wants to leave their time in the streamopen-ended, they will select button 3120. In spite of selecting thisbutton 3120, the luminary computer system 120 may have set a duration2530 which will define the upper limit of the participation of any usercomputer system 110. For example, the system 10 may prevent any one usercomputer system 110 from participating longer that thirty minutes in anymeet now stream, or the luminary computer system 120 may set this limitat fifteen minutes through preference settings 176. Furthermore, asexplained above, the luminary computer system 120 has the ability endthe stream using button 2750 at any time. But outside of this, the userthat selects button 3120 wants to be free to stay on the meet now streamas long as possible. Other users may wish to cap their participationbecause of the per-minute charges. Thus, a user that wants to pay foronly five, ten, or fifteen minutes will select buttons 3130, 3140, or3150, respectively.

Assuming that there is an open place in the meet now stream for thecurrent user, the stream interface 3200 will next be presented on theuser computer system 110. This interface emphasizes the visual data 242received from the luminary computer system 120 by providing interfacearea 3210 for its display. Visual data from the other user computersystems 110 are also displayed in areas 3220. In this case, the luminaryis named Mary Jones, and the other user computer systems 110 areassociated with users Fred, Jane, and Luis. In order to connect nameswith the visuals, these names are displayed in interface 3200 on or nearthe same areas 3210, 3220 where the visuals from these systems 110, 120are presented. The participant's own visuals are presented in corner3230 so that the user can see the visuals that they are sharing with theother participants. Interface buttons 3240, 3250 are provided to allowthe user computer system 110 to receive instructions to save a portion190 or to end this computer system's participation in the meet nowstream 20. If the user selected a limited time segment of participationby selection one of buttons 3130, 3140, 3150, a time warning 3260 willappear on interface 3200 at the appropriate time to let them know thattheir time on the stream 20 is approaching its end. Similarly, if theend of the duration 2530 specified by the luminary computer system 120is also approaching, a similar warning will appear on the streaminginterfaces 2700, 3200 of all participants in the stream 20.

Meet Now Queue

If there were no open slots in the meet now stream 20 after thepresentation of interface 3100, the queue interface 3300 of FIG. 33 willbe displayed rather than the streaming interface 3200. The queueinterface 3300 informs the user computer system 110 of its place on thequeue. In FIG. 33, the parties in the queue are shown on list 3310. Inaddition, description 3320 specifically identifies where on the queuethe user computer system 110 resides. An option to leave the queue andnot participate in the meet now stream is presented with button 3340.Near that button 3340 is a reminder 3330 that the user computer system110 will not be charged if they do not enter the meet now stream 20. Theuser will see their position rise in the queue until they are at the topof the queue. At that point, when a slot opens in the meet now stream20, they will be presented the streaming interface 3200.

FIG. 34 presents an alternative queue interface 3400. In this interface,there are six people ahead of the user computer system 110 displayingthe interface 3400, as shown by the list 3410 and the statement 3420.This interface 3400 provides users with an ability to move their way upthe queue by participating in an auction system. This is explained atdescription 3430. The user can select to join the auction by pressingbutton 3440. As was the case with interface 3300, the user can alsoleave the queue without joining the stream 20 by pressing button 3450.

If the user elects to join the auction through button 3440, the usercomputer system 110 will display the bidding interface 3500. In thisinterface, the queue list 3510 has been augmented by showing the bidssubmitted by the members of the queue. For example, Jane has bid $10 tosecure her place at the top of the queue, while Luis has bid $8 to besecond. Mark has bid only $1, so is placed in third. The otherparticipants are not bidding, so they are placed in the queue based uponthe timing of their entry into the queue.

Interface 3500 explains at description 3520 that a bid of $11 will movethe user computer system 110 displaying the interface 3500 to the top ofthe queue. The bid is entered at interface element 3530. Once an amountis entered, the user computer system 110 can accept the bid at interfacebutton 3540 or cancel out of the bidding through button 3550. If thisinterface 3500 is canceled, queue interface 3400 is once againpresented.

In some cases, the bidding and auction presented in FIGS. 34 and 35 isrun for the benefit of one or more charities. This is why thealternative charity language is presented in description 3520. In oneembodiment, the operators of the system 10 determine which charityreceives these auction funds. In another embodiment, the luminarycomputer system 120 selects a particular charity through interface 2500.

In some embodiments, user computer systems 110 are not allowed tospecify the time frame for which they participate in the meet nowstream. In these embodiments, a fixed time period is assigned to all ofthe participating user computer systems 110. For instance, a luminarycomputer system 120 may specify a 15-minute duration for their call. Inorder to give equal opportunities to their fans, a luminary may statethat each user computer system 110 may spend only five minutes on themeet now stream 20. This five-minute time period per user computersystem can be selected through interface 2500. In other embodiments, allmeet now streams 20 controlled by system 10 impose a five-minute limiton participating user computer systems 110. If all user computer systems110 have the same time limit, the user computer systems 110participating in a meet now stream 20 would generally arrive in thestream 20 together. When their time limit is reached, these usercomputer systems 110 would then leave the stream 20 together, with a newgroup then entering from the queue.

Although the user computer system interfaces shown in FIGS. 28-35 areshown in a vertical orientation of the type used in mobile devices, andthe luminary computer system interfaces 2300, 2500, 2700 are shown in ahorizontal orientation of the type used in desktop and laptop computers,these interfaces are not restricted to these types of orientations. Thepresented interfaces are merely examples of the types of interfaces thatcan be presented on the computers systems 110, 120, 130, and theinformation, inputs, content, and controls described herein could beimplemented both on mobile devices and traditional computer systems.

Method for Performing Meet Now Streams

FIG. 36 shows a flowchart outlining a method 3600 for instigating andoperating a meet now stream 20. The method starts at step 3605 withonboarding user and luminary computers systems 110, 120, effectivelycreating data entities 174, 176 in database 170. In one embodiment,however, the system 10 allows unregistered users to join a meet nowstream 10 before they have registered and been associated with a userdata entity 174. When such guest users have completed their involvementwith the meet now stream 20, they will be unable to review thecommunications 180 or portions 190 files until after they have completedthe onboarding step 3605. While a luminary computer system 120 isusually operated by a luminary (an individual of some fame or expertisesuch that users would be interested in communicating with the luminary),the meet now process 3600 may be utilized by any organizer taking therole of the luminary. Thus, although the following description refers toa luminary computer system 120, the method 3600 (and the abovedescriptions and interfaces) work equally well with any organizercomputer system taking the same role. At step 3610, the system 10receives preference information 176, 177 from each user and luminary.This may include preferences related to the meet now stream 20, such ascost 2510 and duration 2530 preferences for luminary computer systems120, and payment details 3110 for user computer systems 110. Receivingthis type of preference information 176 at this point will negate theneed to receive this information in association with interface 2500 and3100.

At step 3615, the system receives a request from a luminary computersystem 120 indicating a desire to begin a meet now stream 20. Such arequest can come from selecting button 2360 on interface 2300. Beforebeginning the stream 20, the system 10 will present to the luminarycomputer system 120 a link 2520 that can be shared by the luminarycomputer system 120 with others, such as through social media platform2600. This occurs at step 3620. The system 10 also promotes the meet nowstream 20 through system server 100, which shares the existence of themeet now stream 20 with user computers 110, such as by presentinginterface element 2810 on luminary profile interfaces 2800 seen by thoseuser computers 110.

At step 3630, the meet now stream 20 has begun, and a first usercomputer system 110 has requested to join the stream 20, such as byselecting button 2810. The method 3600 next checks at step 3635 to seeif the stream 20 is full. A full stream 20 means that all of the slots(such as positions 2710, 2712, 2714, and 2720) available for usercomputer systems 110 in the stream 20 are already occupied. If not, step3655 explains the meet now process to the user computer system 110 andaccepts payments and preferences from the user (see interfaces 3000 and3100). The user computer system 110 is then added to the stream 20. Atstep 3660, the added user computer system 110 can participate in thestream 20 through audio and visual data 240, can watch the stream 20through interface 3200, and can request that portions 190 be createdfrom the stream 20. If there are still more open slots, as determined bystep 3665, the system 10 will receive new user computer systems at step3630. Before doing so, however, the system 10 will determine if the slotis available because a user computer system 110 has just left the stream20. As explained above, a user computer system 110 may exit the stream20 through a manual selection of button 3250, or through the ending of aparticipation time period specified by the user computer system 110, theluminary computer system 120, or the system server 100 itself. If a usercomputer system 110 had just left the stream 20, step 3670 will ensurethat the departing user computer system 110 is billed for their time inthe stream 20 (assuming that this was not a free meet now stream createdthrough button 2550). If step 3665 determines that there are no openslots, step 3675 determines whether the luminary computer system 120 hasended the stream 20. If not, participation continues at 3660 until anopen slot is created by a user computer system 110 leaving the stream20, or the luminary computer system 120 terminates the stream 20.

If a new user computer system 110 requests to join the stream 20 at step3630 but step 3635 determines that the stream 20 is full, the usercomputer system 110 will receive a communication (interface 2900)concerning the need to join a queue, and then be placed into the queueat step 3640. Step 3640 makes sure that the newly added user computersystem 110 is placed into the correct location in the queue. In someembodiments, the queue is a simple, first-in, first-out (or FIFO) queue.In other embodiments, an auction bid can be submitted. If a bid issubmitted in this embodiment, step 3645 will detect the bid and thencause step 3640 to re-sort the queue to reflect the new bid. Asexplained above in connection with FIG. 3500, auction bids change thesorting of the queue. Step 3650 ensures that the first user computersystem 110 in the queue (after the sorting of step 3640) is added to thestream 20 at step 3655 whenever the queue is non-empty.

If the luminary computer system 120 terminates the stream 20, this isdetected at step 3675. At step 3680, the user computer systems 110participating in the stream 20 are informed of the termination and arethen billed appropriately. At step 3685, the luminary computer system120 is compensated according to the rules established by the system 10and the money collected through steps 3670 and 3680. At step 3690, theparticipants (including both user computer systems 110 and luminarycomputer system 120) are given access to the recorded communication 180and any portions 190 that each had created. The method ends at step3695.

The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from theabove description. Numerous modifications and variations will readilyoccur to those skilled in the art. Since such modifications arepossible, the invention is not to be limited to the exact constructionand operation illustrated and described. Rather, the present inventionshould be limited only by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: a) at a system server,receiving a request to establish a live audio-visual stream from anorganizer computer system; b) at the system server, establishing andtransmitting the live audio-visual stream using audio data and visualdata received from the organizer computer system and all user computersystems that participate in the live audio-visual stream, wherein thelive audio-visual stream has slots available for user computer systems,further wherein only a predefined number of slots are available in thelive audio-visual stream; c) at the system server, receiving originalrequests to join the live audio-visual stream from the predefined numberof original user computer systems; d) at the system server, placing theoriginal user computer systems into the predefined number of slots inthe live audio-visual stream; e) at the system server, receiving anadditional request to join the live audio-visual stream from anadditional user computer system; f) at the system server, placing theadditional user computer system into a queue, wherein the additionaluser computer system becomes a queued user computer system; g) at thesystem server, removing a first original user computer system from thelive audio-visual stream, wherein a first slot is opened in the liveaudio-visual stream; and h) at the system server, placing afirst-positioned queued user computer system into the first slot so thatthe first-positioned queued user computer system participates in thelive audio-visual stream.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theadditional user computer system is the only user computer system in thequeue, further wherein the additional user computer system is thefirst-positioned queued user computer system.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the queue has a plurality of other queued user computer systemsin addition to the additional user computer system, further where thequeued user computer systems are sorted to determine thefirst-positioned queued user computer system.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the queued user computer systems are sorted in a first-in,first-out manner.
 5. The method of claim 3, further comprising: at thesystem server, receiving an auction bid from the additional usercomputer system, wherein the queued user computer systems are firstlysorted according to the sizes of auction bids received from the sortedqueued user computer systems and secondly sorted in a first-in,first-out manner.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein auction bids arepaid by user computer systems only after the user computer systemsparticipate in the live audio-visual stream.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising, at the system server and after receiving the requestto establish the live audio-visual stream, creating a URL link to anInternet location that generates requests to join the live audio-visualstream.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, at the systemserver, receiving compensation paid by the user computer systems thatparticipate in the live audio-visual stream, wherein compensation isbased on a time duration for that participation.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the first original user computer system provided compensationfor a time period, wherein the first original user computer system wasremoved by the system server after the first original user computersystem participated in the live audio-visual stream for the time period.10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a user interfaceto the organizer computer system including an interface element to endthe live audio-visual stream; further comprising, at the server system,receiving selection of the interface element from the organizer computersystem and then terminating the live audio-visual stream.
 11. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: i) establishing a set time period foruser participation, ii) at the server system, removing all of theoriginal user computer systems after the set time period to open allpredefined number of slots, iii) at the server system, placing thepredefined number of queued user computer systems, including theadditional user computer system, into the predefined number of slots sothat the predefined number of queued user computer systems participatein the live audio-visual stream.
 12. A method comprising: a) at a systemserver, receiving a request to establish a live audio-visual stream froman organizer computer system; b) at the system server, establishing andtransmitting the live audio-visual stream using audio data and visualdata received from the organizer computer system and all user computersystems that participate in the live audio-visual stream, wherein thelive audio-visual stream has slots available for user computer systems,further wherein only a predefined number of slots are available in thelive audio-visual stream; c) at the system server, receiving originalrequests to join the live audio-visual stream from the predefined numberof original user computer systems; d) at the system server, placing theoriginal user computer systems into the predefined number of slots inthe live audio-visual stream; e) at the system server, receiving atleast the predefined number of additional requests to join the liveaudio-visual stream from additional user computer systems; f) at thesystem server, placing the additional user computer systems into aqueue; g) at the system server, and at a set time period after placingthe original user computer systems into the predefined number of slots,removing original user computer systems from the live audio-visualstream, wherein the predefined number of slots are opened in the liveaudio-visual stream; h) at the system server, placing the predefinednumber of additional user computer systems into the predefined number ofslots so that the predefined number of additional user computer systemparticipate in the live audio-visual stream; and i) at the systemserver, and at the set time period after placing the predefined numberof additional user computer systems into the predefined number of slots,removing the predefined number of additional user computer systems fromthe live audio-visual stream.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein theset time period is five minutes.
 14. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising receiving compensation paid by the user computer systems thatparticipate in the live audio-visual stream.
 15. The method of claim 12,wherein the additional user computer systems in the queue are sorted todetermine which additional user computer systems comprise the predefinednumber of additional user computer systems, and further comprising atthe system server, receiving auction bids from the additional usercomputer systems, wherein the queued user computer systems are firstlysorted according to the sizes of auction bids received from theadditional user computer systems and secondly sorted in a first-in,first-out manner.
 16. A system server comprising: a) a processor forprocessing programming instructions; b) a network interface permittingthe system server to communicate over a network with a plurality ofcomputer systems; c) application programming instructions causing thesystem server to: i) receive a request to establish a live audio-visualstream from an organizer computer system, ii) establish and transmit thelive audio-visual stream using audio data and visual data received fromthe organizer computer system and all user computer systems thatparticipate in the live audio-visual stream, wherein the liveaudio-visual stream has slots available for user computer systems,further wherein only a predefined number of slots are available in thelive audio-visual stream, iii) receive original requests to join thelive audio-visual stream from the predefined number of original usercomputer systems, iv) place the original user computer systems into thepredefined number of slots in the live audio-visual stream, v) receivean additional request to join the live audio-visual stream from anadditional user computer system, vi) place the additional user computersystem into a queue, wherein the additional user computer system becomesa queued user computer system joining other queued user computerssystems in the queue, vii) remove a first original user computer systemfrom the live audio-visual stream, wherein a first slot is opened in thelive audio-visual stream, and viii) place a first-positioned queued usercomputer system into the first slot so that the first-positioned queueduser computer system participates in the live audio-visual stream. 17.The system of claim 16, wherein the application programming instructionscause the system server to sort the queued user computer systems in afirst-in, first-out manner.
 18. The system of claim 16, wherein theapplication programming instructions cause the system server receiveauction bids from the queued user computer systems, wherein the queueduser computer systems are firstly sorted according to the sizes ofauction bids received from the queued user computer systems and secondlysorted in a first-in, first-out manner.
 19. The system of claim 18,wherein auction bids are paid by queued user computer systems only afterthe queued user computer systems participate in the live audio-visualstream.
 20. The system of claim 16, wherein the application programminginstructions further cause the system server to: (1) establish a settime period for user participation, (2) remove all of the original usercomputer systems after the set time period to open all predefined numberof slots, and (3) place the predefined number of queued user computersystems, including the additional user computer system, into thepredefined number of slots so that the predefined number of queued usercomputer systems participate in the live audio-visual stream.